


Love me without Love

by smile_angelfs



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: 95 best friends, M/M, brothers suga-woozi, confused!Scoups, run-awaygroom!Jihoon, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 19:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6342589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smile_angelfs/pseuds/smile_angelfs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anyone can fall in love, you and I, him and her. The possibilities are endless and there's no right or wrong love, right? It takes a lot of bravery and effort in order to love someone whilst their heart is occupied. Not everyone can love without love. Not everyone can be Lee Jihoon.</p>
<p>❀❀❀</p>
<p>Choi Seungcheol's life was never perfect, in fact it was far from it... he was always on the edge, second choice, second place, second son, second everything. His heart was never his, since the day he set eyes on his two best friends. For a boy who never had anything, what happens when he gets everything? He becomes first choice, first place, first love now that should be more than enough, right? </p>
<p>Wrong.</p>
<p>The reason for Seungcheol's world turning around was anything but what he expected. For the reason was....</p>
<p>...Lee Jihoon.</p>
<p>The reason was, Lee Jihoon </p>
<p>❀❀❀</p>
<p>Follow the story of two souls, entangled by that one fated day, as they learn to understand the wonders of the world. What the world had in store for them. </p>
<p>This is a story, about a run-away-groom and his saviour.</p>
<p>So why don't you grab some popcorn, sit comfortably and watch their story unfold?</p>
<p>❀❀❀</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Daegu to Busan

**Author's Note:**

> Trailer for the story: Big Thanks to Ann  
> Watch it, but no seriously do, the story will be made more interesting(?) and there's a lot of clues in there!  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AQqrU2WLhk
> 
> Poster: Big Thanks to Tess
> 
> Cross posted on AFF

                                                              

 

* * *

* * *

 

“Calling all passengers, Train 1-4-3 from Daegu to Busan, will leave soon. I repeat, passengers board the train 1-4-3 from Daegu to Busan.” A voice bellows through the intercom in the train station.

The train sound resonated as people bustled, through the busy February evening. The platform buzzed, as people rushed around trying to ensure they didn't miss their train, or as they attempted to leave the train before it rattled on. The platform grew busier, couples holding hands, running around, avoiding other couples. It would be an understatement to say that the train station was busy, because there was hardly any walking space.

 

In the midst of it all, a lone figure sat with his knee up to the chest, his arms tightly wrapped around his body. It was almost as though if he held them any less tighter, his knees would give in and collapse so his limbs all tangle into one big mess. If he did loosen however, it would just illustrate how sunken his world was at the current moment.

 

He lets out a deep sigh, as he stares at the floor, and suddenly his head shoots up, when he hears the siren sign.

“1-4-3, shall now leave, please make sure you have your luggage with you at all times. We will not be responsible…”

The train was slowly trudging its way across the train tracks, the screeching of worn out tires, echoing through the atmosphere.

 

“Shit!” The young man jumps up from his comforting place on the solitary bench, and he began to run towards, the train which had picked up its speed. He began to pick up his pace, as he skidded across the station, doing all he can to ensure he didn’t miss the train.

 

_Please, don’t mis-_

 

Suddenly, as though the world had hit, a slow replay button, the boys sees a hand coming out of the train, he frowns, confused, until he heard a voice.

“Hurry, and grab on to me,” The voice was soft, almost a whisper until he repeated his phrase, more urgently.

Startled, but glad to see that he may not be missing the train after all; the young protagonist was pulling his weight and running a little more, closing the distance between the train and himself. The arm of his helper extends out, and as he gnaws the skin of his inner cheek, the young man also extends his own arm out.

Within a few seconds, their arms collided, and finally their hands found harsh harmony before the young man, is pulled up into the train with great strength.

 

The male lets out a long sigh as he looks at the floor, waiting for his breath to return.

“Phew-Thank you, I-” He says, bowing lowly in gratitude.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Oh,” The young man whispers, finding the source of the sudden great strength that pulled him in.

  


His saviour wasn’t one, but two young men, both looking a good few years older than him. The first looking fragile and petite, whilst the other was more on the muscular side. The fragile looking male was smiling down at him and, if he wasn’t already in love, this would have been one of the brightest and almost blinding smiles he had ever seen. He was wearing what looked to be his boyfriend’s - _are they even together? -_ hoodie, with ripped black skinny jeans to compliment his figure. The other male adorned a simple black and white striped t-shirt, his jumper hanging loosely around his neck, sporting similar jeans as the first male, though not ripped.

  


“I was actually helping you initially, but then my friend here decided to pull you in,”

The youngest of the three raises his eyebrows, surprised he knew what he was shocked about.

“Boyfriend, actually. And why are we speaking out here? Shall we go in?” He asks, as he wraps his arms around his boyfriend, the shorter of the two, the couple leading the way.

The protagonist smiles slightly confused, yet walks behind them into the first cabin that is empty.

  


The couple sit down on the side that has luggage already placed in the courier above their heads. The youngest stands by the cabin uncertain, neither able to enter the room nor leave it. He stands awkwardly, before the tallest of the couple looks at him.

“You can sit down, we don’t bite,” He states smiling, gesturing to the space opposite him. The youngest male nods before he plops down on the vacant bench. He pulls his hoodie tighter, hugging his body slowly as he feels a sudden breeze hit the cabin. The young man opposite him gets up and closes the window, leaning over his partner and making him look smaller, more vulnerable if possible. He sits back down, with the same smile as before, big and inviting.

“We were actually watching you, you know?”

  


_Watching me? That sounds almost like something J-_

  


“That sounds creepy, Ji”

“J-Ji?” The younger male prods with a question, slightly flustered hearing the word utter from someone else’s lips.

“It’s just his nickname; his name is Jimin, Park Jimin. And I’m Jeon Jungkook,”

“Soon to be Jeon Jimin,” Jimin answers, a bright cheek-to-cheek grin adorning his face.

  


“You’re engaged?”

“Yeah, we’re to be married next month. We’re heading over to our best friends’ place, the wedding will be held there,” Jimin says shyly, as he lays his head onto his fiancé’s shoulders. His head fits perfectly, the couple looking like they were meant to be.

_The perfect height difference. Just like what we had..._

  
  
  
  


The young boy nods, “You guys look like you’re meant to be,”

Jimin turned flustered cherry red, and Jungkook grins, showing his trademark, a bunny grin.

“Thank you… but can I ask?”

The young boy hums in response, “sure?”

 

“Why are you so lonely on Valentine’s day? Everyone is with their loved ones travelling somewhere sweet… but you are all alone. When Jimin said he watched you…  he meant we watched you together... and I was aware of the fact that you were at the train station at least an hour ago,”

The youngest squirms in his seat, not liking where this was headed. He had his head hung low, eyes trained on his hands that were clutching the hem of his hoodie tightly.

“Can we know why? I mean, you didn’t move from your seat until the train started to drive off…” Jungkook trails off, not knowing if he had crossed a boundary, because the young boy was not looking happy in the slightest.

 

Another awkward pause. _Should I make a run for it?_

 

“You don’t have to tell us, Kookie, he-”

“No,”

“Hey no, its fine, Kookie stepped over a boundar-”

“No… erm… I don’t mind answering the questions.” He takes a deep breath.

 

“My…” A pause, he licks his lips as they turn unnaturally dry. “My name is Seungcheol. Choi Seungcheol,”

 

* * *

* * *

 


	2. Run way with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, life throws us the unexpected, and maybe all it takes for a wrong person to make every right again.

*Flashback*

“Shit-- Han, hurry-- they’ve almost caught up to us,” A voice croaks urgently, as the leaves on the ground rustle beneath the two souls' sprinting feet.  
  
The night was dark and still, the stars had already planted themselves into their special ground that we call the sky. They twinkled and helped light up a path down onto Earth, supporting and guiding lost souls.  
  
Tonight was not like any other, two frantic souls running through the misty, foggy night in search for shelter. Somewhere they could hide momentarily, before the goons that were chasing them catch up.  
  
The taller boy pulls the shorter one by the wrist roughly, the latter standing behind him as he peeps through the tree bark to see if there was anyone near by.  
  
“Hey--I’m not-””  
“Shh, Han, keep quiet. It's possible they can be close to us. Come closer-”  
“L-let go, it stings-”  
“Han, stop twisting my arm along with yours, is this the way you repa-”  
  
The thick, awkward atmosphere crumbles the second a loud vibrating sound echoes throughout the forest.  
  
**_♪ Will you stay by my side? Will you promise me? If I let go of your hand, you’ll fly away and break. I’m scared, scared, scared of that ♪_**  
  
The taller boy’s phone springs to life in his denim jacket pocket, almost softly cursing with a “hoshit, not now”, still holding onto the younger and more fragile boy. He huffs as he attempts to quickly grab his cellphone, which only resulted in toughening his hold on his friend.  
  
“Ow,” A soft yet urgent grunt is heard from the shorter male.  
“Ah, sorry,” He replies once again loosening his grip, turning to squint at his phone. The bright light momentarily blinding him before-  
“Han?--” He asks in astonishment looking from his phone to the figure beside him. The light dazzles his eyes more than what he expects. He grunts, his eyes finally readjusting a moment later, only to see he has answered the call.  
  
“Hello? Han, why the hell are you calling me when you're here- hold on, of course, his phone must have dropped-,” The taller boy stops babbling on and pauses to take the phone away from his ear. He double takes, because it was actually his best friend’s number that he had received a call from. He loosens his grip on his friend beside him, and whispers a soft, “strange, I guess you dropped your phone” before placing the phone back to his earlobe. “Erm, sorry. Who is this and why do you have my best friend’s phone?”  
  
A short and eerie silence responds. He assumes the phone was cut, before he hears a chuckle, rough and short. He could identify that laugh anywhere, at any time, it was defi-  
  
“Seungcheol, what on earth are you going on about?”  
  
“Han? What the f-f…, why are you calling me when you're right here?”  
  
In the background, the shorter boy was squirming full on now trying to get away from the hold that he had grown stronger over time. “Let go,” was repeated over and over again, since the start of the conversation.  
  
“Seungcheol, what in the heavens are you going on about? I just got married?” Came the response, curt and direct.  
  
Seungcheol felt his knees go weak as his heart sank.  
  
This was not how the day was supposed to go. Junghan was not meant to be married. He was supposed to be the groom that ran away and Seungcheol was supposed to be his savior.  
  
It was wrong. It was all wrong. Because he now stood gripping onto a soul, who has new problems now thanks to Seungcheol.  
  
Ignoring the pain in his heart, slowly rising, he turns to look -more like a perplexed glare- at the small boy. Phone slowly slipping from his ear, the voice gets drowned into the night, the owls setting a musical theme in exchange.  
  
The moonlight shines through the tree branches they stand under and he finally, finally, gets a proper look at the boy. The boy was wearing a black tuxedo, unbuttoned, showing his white shirt that was tightly fitted around his torso, hugging his body and framing his petite figure perfectly. On his back, a guitar case hung, clinging on for dear life. The boy shrugs his shoulders lazily and it slips back into place. No wonder it felt like he was pulling Junghan along and not this petite and delicate boy instead. Seungcheol’s eyes trails up his body to settle on his face. He has a round face that makes him look young, baby faced, with his small mono eyelids, a cute button nose and thin lips. To say the boy took his breath away would be an understatement.  
  
Seungcheol blinks and shakes his head, making sure he wasn’t going crazy or dreaming this situation up altogether. When the boy remains still and unmoving, Seungcheol sighs softly and places the phone to his ear.  
  
“Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t Han?” asked Seungcheol as he gazed at the stranger in front of him.  
  
“I already told you I was the wrong person… but why the hell were you speaking to Han hyung?!”  
  
“You know Han?”  
  
“Ye-”  
  
“Yah!” A voice shrills through the thick air. The duo instantly jumped apart as they realized how close they had become during all the confusion. Seungcheol looked down at his phone that he was still holding and realized that, to his horror, he had accidentally put the call on speaker.  
  
“Now, if you two lovebirds are done. Coups, I need you to help my friend get to safety. Ji, I’m sorry I can’t be there, but Coupsy-boy here can take you in for a while. Trust me in this, okay? I’ll ring back later, got to go! Bye,”  
  
Seungcheol’s mouth was agape, opening and closing as if he were a fish out of water. The silence remained in the air until the other person had ended the call.  
  
“What just happened?”  
  
“I could ask you the same thing. Why did you let me drag you all the way here? All you had to say was ‘I’m not who you think you are’, that could have prevented all this from happening,”  
  
“Well I’m sorry Mr.-know-it-all, but in case you haven't realised, you didn't even stop to listen to me. Not even once,” The younger scoffs in sarcasm.  
  
Seungcheol attempts refute, but he realizes that he’s actually right. “Okay...You got me there,” replies Seungcheol as he holds back a nervous laugh. He scratches the nape of his neck as he looks at the boys eyes. His gaze is soft and curious.  
  
He’s snapped out of his thoughts by an outside voice. “There they are!” Seungcheol’s eyes enlarge comically as he hears the goons from earlier. For the second time that night, he pulls the younger by the arm and drags him along. They run as fast as they possibly could against the brutal strong winds. The air felt as if it were bashing in rebellion against their bodies.  
  
“Ah, please loosen your grip?” The stranger asks, shaking their intertwined hand. Seungcheol obliges, but continues to pull him along. They find a truck standstill around the first corner out of the forest. Seungcheol pulls the younger behind him, both ducking behind a bin truck.  
  
They hear the patter of hurried footsteps, “They can’t have gone far, keep searching!” Seungcheol breathes a deep, ragged breath, stopping when he feels the younger boy press against his chest.  
  
“Please, don’t let them find us,” He whispers, gripping tightly onto Seungcheol’s shirt. “I… I have my reasons, please help me,”  
  
Seungcheol sighs again, but this time he places a hand on the boy’s shoulders and pulls him in, patting his shoulders in an awkward manner.  
  
“Don’t take advantage,” Is all he hears, mumbled into his shirt, before he gets distracted by the sound of an ignition. WIthout even thinking twice about the threat the boy had piped out at him, Seungcheol pulls them both up, peeking over the bin. There was nothing in sight except the truck, which had started to flash its indicators, ready to move.  
  
“Quick!” Seungcheol says, as quirks his head towards the truck.  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“Quickly, get on. Here I’ll help lif-”  
  
“Don’t take advantage. Seriously, I have my guitar and I won’t be afraid to use it,”  
  
Seungcheol laughs, dry with an edge of worry, throwing his hands up in the air. “I won’t even touch you!”  
  
The boy nods, satisfied with Seungcheol’s answer and tries to pry himself onto the truck. He attempts a few times before he looks at Seungcheol. Seungcheol laughs, gets up onto the truck first -effortlessly nonetheless- and offers his hand. The boy rolls his eyes and looks back to see Seungcheol beaming and grinning ear to ear. He huffs, but takes his hand and feels himself being hauled up. They crawl inside the back of the truck and sit down side by side, on top of the haystacks.  
  
Seungcheol stretches and hits his shoulders where he feels a slight strain just as the truck begins to move.  
  
God, was this going to be one long ride from hell.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks Alana Unnie, Rashandra Unnie and Lizz my Soul Twin! Thanks for reading, commenting, subbing and upvoting! See you on the next chapter!!
> 
>  
> 
> XOXO,  
> Abi


	3. A fools kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello... it's been 3/4 months since the last update I have to blame school and laziness for that. Currently, I'm on vacation in Italy, therefore it's been difficult to update. However, my Soul twin, Lizz has been here to help me post this chapter. Thanks to all those that helped me finish this chapter from my hiatus!

Seungcheol’s eyes fluttered open abruptly, he squints as his eyes slowly adjusted to the sunlight streaming through the trees. He breathes in deeply inhaling the fresh countryside ai--  _ wait what _ ?   
  
He snaps his head to side, but in the process, his shoulders give way and he falls on top of the haystacks with the weight of another body on his. He looks up to find himself inches away from the boy from yesterday.   
  
Soft snores spells out the lack of a good night's sleep. The males face is illuminated with peace and something else he couldn’t quite place his finger on yet. He took a good look at the face of his companion, Junghan had said to believe in him, and the boy said he needed help so surely he can't bring in trouble, right? Seungcheol wasn't so certain now, as he lay on his back facing the sleeping boy, their lips barely millimetres away from each other. He could feel his heartbeat radically beating against his ribcage.    
  
All of a sudden, a low mumble comes from the boy sleeping on top of Seungcheol. Seungcheol edges closer trying to see if he can make sense of what the other is mumbling. "Sarang,"   
  
"Sarang?" Seungcheol asks back to no one in particular, he frowns as he looks at the younger boy, just who was this Sarang girl? He frowns and leans forward so that he had his ear against the younger boy’s mouth trying to understand what it was he was saying, except all he feels is the boy’s breath coming closer and closer until his ear grows fuzzy and warm. Seungcheol quickly moves his head  bringing a hand to his ear, pupils expanding in surprise for he had just felt the boy’s lips kiss his ear. Seungcheol looks back at the boy as he feels his cheeks grow warmer as a cherry blush replaces the original pale skin. 

Before he knew it, the boy was drawing him in unconsciously, Seungcheol leans in closer trying to hear what his lips were uttering. A sudden cough takes Seungcheol by surprise and he finds his lips on top of the younger boy's, just in time for the younger to open his eyes, all traces of sleep slowly seeping away. Both males’ eyes widen in a comical manner as they realise what had happened. 

Noticing his body on top of Seungcheol's he gets up in a hurry, the younger of the two pushes Seungcheol away as he brings his sleeve to his lips and harshly rubs them trying to get rid of all traces of the unexpected kiss. 

Glaring at Seungcheol, the boy points his index finger at Seungcheol accusingly, “You! Just what do you think you were doing? Did I not tell you to not take advantage of me?!”

A cough interrupts them and Seungcheol looks away before the boy can get his answer and calls out to the Ahjussi who was unloading his van.

“Erm, Mr Ahjussi where are we?”

“Ah you both are finally awake, sorry I had to be called home suddenly so I'm making a stop in Makpo,”

“Makpo?!” The two young men exclaim in unison.

The old man let's out a small chuckle, “Yes Makpo, you won't be finding any vehicles at this time however,”

Seungcheol frowns and looks back at his companion, “Is there no way…?”

“I'll head back down there tomorrow night so you are more than welcome to stay with me until then?”

Seungcheol snaps his attention back to the elderly man, “Erm…”

The elder man laughs softly. “My house is perfectly safe, I for one am not an old disgusting pervert or pedophile,  I'm married and I live with my wife and dog,”

Seungcheol nudges his companion waiting for his answer. The boy who had stayed silent all this time had been in deep thoughts thinking about whether or not Makpo was safe away from his kidnappers. “Alright, we will stay, thank you,” he replies after a moment of deadly silence.

The old man smiles, as he places the last box down, “Alright, come this way,”

Seungcheol gets up from his awkward position on the floor and moves to leave the van, turning back to offer a hand to his companion. The later huffs and knocks his shoulder into Seungcheol but stops walking as he edges close to the end. The gap between the van and ground is too big for his petite body so he places his hand on Seungcheol's.

Seungcheol smiles and pulls himself off of the van and gently helps the younger male down. The elderly man smiles at the scene and signals the two boys to follow him into his house. 

“Ahjussi, do you need help carrying the boxes?” Seungcheol calls out.

The elder man shakes his head and calls back. “The village boys will collect their own boxes,”

Seungcheol nods in understanding and walks until he stops to check  if his companion is following him. In his abrupt decision to stop, the younger of the two walks straight into his broad chest, resulting in a loud, “oomf,” the young male falls to the floor startled at having to stop suddenly. 

Seungcheol whips his head around and stares at where his companion was a second ago. His frown deepens when he realizes he's no longer there.

“Yah! I’m here!! Look down, you idiot,”

“What are you doing down there?” Seungcheol enquires looking down in awe.

“The amazing Lee Jihoon, is waiting for a knight in shining armour, what do you think?” 

“Don't you have a sense of balance at all?”

“No, you could have warned me!”

“Well, I'm sorry. Next time I'll speak to a fortune teller  so i’ll know when I’ll make sudden stops,” Retorts Seungcheol, smirking as he knows Jihoon won't argue. 

And indeed the younger rolls his eyes and looks away.

“Would you like your knight in shining armour to help you up?"

Jihoon looks up and raises his eyebrows, “Yes, but where is he?” he questions looking around at everything except Seungcheol.

“Look up! It's me, of course,”

“Please, you? You're anything but a knight and especially not one in shining armour,”

“Hey, that's not true, I'll prove it to you,”

Jihoon dismisses Seungcheol's claims with a wave of his hands before he stops and holds out his hand, “You can start of by lifting me up-”

Not allowing Jihoon to reply, Seungcheol quickly pulls him to his feet. Seungcheol begins to let go of the other’s hand. He steps back to follow Ahjussi but trips on the step and holds the first thing he can find. Lee Jihoon. The two boys fall again and Seungcheol groans. Seungcheol's groan slowly comes to a stop as he lays speechless, a familiar pair of lips on his, and a body holding his stronger more built body with all his might. 

_ Hoshit, why is Jihoon becoming more appealing by the second? _

Jihoon's eyes widen a second time and he rolls over quickly so that he is laying next to Seungcheol and not on top, “Ouch, that was a hard fall… are you okay?”

Seungcheol snaps out of his daze.  ‘ _ Funny,’  _ thought Seungcheol.  _  ‘Jihoon isn't jumping down at my throat for having supposedly taken advantage of him.’ _

Seungcheol turns to Jihoon and nods. “My back feels sore but nothing should be broken.”

Jihoon remains silent but gets up on his feet and offers the elder his hand, which Seungcheol takes gratefully and he pulls himself up. 

Seungcheol wobbles a bit as he finds his balance and slowly begins to follow  the old man to his house, but he stops as he feels a hand snake around his waist to support him into the room.  

“Erm…”

“Don't get any ideas, the old man mentioned to me that his wife doesn't like bachelors, so-”

“Lads!” 

Jihoon's statement comes to a sudden halt as they both look at each other before staring at the door in front of them. There stood an old women, dressed in a moderate amount of clothing, smiling at them. “My dearest  Ahjussi   mentioned to me about the love birds who ran off to get married.”

Jihoon tightens his hold on Seungcheol's waist as though proving a point, and Seungcheol feels himself slowly smiling regardless of the strange situation. 

“Come on in, I prepared the guest room when my husband mentioned he was stopping by tonight.” She walks off into the house and Jihoon helps Seungcheol as they quicken their steps. The lady stops out of the blue and turns to gaze at the couple with her eyebrows raised quizzically, “You guys are actually getting married right?”

  
"Of course ma’am, this is my bunny boo~," says Seungcheol as he feels a shudder go down his spine. Why did that sound like the calling of Satan before all hell broke lose? Choi Seungcheol just what have you got yourself into to?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to: Keisha, Tess, Ann, Janani, GA, Alana Unnie, Jian!!  
> & a big thank you, for Seventeen, always!  
> I'll update frequently
> 
> Find me on twitter: @Smile_Angelfs  
> AFF: @Smile-AngElfs


End file.
